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But emotionally, he’d been with her on the run, through the mud, along the balance beam and over the wall. She’d made it farther this time, but she was still a long way from completion.
He assumed she’d come upstairs to shower, so he waited in the apartment. Kassidy was in her room, taking her own nap while Drake took his. He and Mila wouldn’t be completely alone, but he would take what he could get. She’d been avoiding him for days now, as if she needed to put an exclamation point on her refusal to take their physical relationship any further.
He got it.
She was off-limits.
That didn’t mean they couldn’t have a conversation. For a woman who claimed to want a permanent job, she had a funny was of relating to the boss.
He parked himself in the living room, where he’d hear her knock. He surfed through some news channels, then picked up a technology magazine. He checked his watch, wondering what was taking her so long.
Finally, he called the control room to see if she was on her way.
The staff member on duty reported that Mila had returned from the obstacle course with Vegas. They’d gone into the locker room and hadn’t yet come out.
Troy checked his watch again. More than half an hour had gone by. Why were they still in the locker room?
And then it hit him. Perhaps she’d been hurt. Maybe Vegas was administering first aid. She could have cut herself on the barbed wire in the mud crawl. Maybe she’d injured an ankle jumping off the rope wall. She could have dislocated a finger or gashed her arm. He’d seen all of those things and more happen on the obstacle course.
He was out the door and down the hall in a flash. He didn’t have the patience to wait for the elevator. Instead, he bounded down the stairs, coming out on the main floor on the back side of the building. From there, it was a short trot to the locker room.
One of the security agents was coming through the door.
“Female inside,” he warned Troy.
“She okay?” asked Troy.
“In the shower.” The man grinned and waggled his brows.
Troy nearly slammed him into the wall.
But that would take time, and he wanted to find out what was going on.
He breezed through the door. A second staff member was washing his hands.
“Where is she?” Troy barked.
The man jammed his thumb toward the back of the facility.
As he walked, Troy could hear the shower running.
She was in the shower. She might be fully dressed, but he had a terrible feeling she wasn’t. She was making a statement. She wanted to be one of the guys. No more showering in the boss’s bathroom—she was going all out.
He rounded the corner and nearly plowed straight into Vegas.
Vegas stood, arms over his chest, feet planted apart in front of the shower room doorway.
“That’s as far as you go,” he said to Troy.
“Don’t tell me she’s—”
“Naked? Yeah, she’s naked.”
Troy took a step forward, ready to give Mila a piece of his mind.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” said Vegas.
Troy stopped himself. “Has she lost her mind?”
“The guys aren’t going to bother her,” said Vegas. “But just in case anyone’s tempted, I thought I’d stick around.”
“She could have come upstairs. She knows she should have come upstairs.”
“You saw?” asked Vegas.
Troy hesitated over his answer, not wild about Vegas knowing he’d monitored her attempt. “I saw.”
“She’s disappointed.”
“I know.”
The security cameras monitored from a distance, but when the buzzer rang, her body language was pretty telling.
“I doubt she wants to talk to you.”
“She wants to talk to you?” Troy knew he sounded jealous, but he didn’t particularly care.
“I’m not talking to her,” Vegas offered easily.
“Were you? Did you? What did she say?”
“She wants to try again.”
Troy felt some of the tension leave his body.
She wasn’t hurt. She wasn’t demoralized. She was just as feisty as ever.
“There’s no point,” he said.
“Maybe not,” said Vegas. “But she won’t get any static from me.”
Troy stood up a little taller. “You think I’m giving her static?”
“You do spend a lot of time telling her what she can’t do.”
“Well, she can’t do that. It’s not humanly possible.”
“Hey!” came Mila’s voice over the shower spray. “I can hear you talking.”
Troy winced, and he did an immediate recap of the conversation. Had he been insulting?
Vegas smirked.
“Shut up,” said Troy in an undertone.
“Go away,” said Mila.
“Come out here,” said Troy.
“I’m busy.”
“I need to talk to you about Kassidy.” It was partially true.
It took Mila a moment to answer. “Fine.”
The water shut off.
Troy looked to Vegas. “You can go guard the main door now. Don’t let anyone else in.”
“I don’t think so.”
“There’s nobody left but me.”
“You’re the guy I’m guarding her against.”
“Give me a break.” Troy raised his voice. “Mila? Okay if Vegas leaves?”
“Up to him.”
Vegas didn’t move.
“He thinks I might try something.”
“Not and live,” she called back.
Vegas grinned.
“She says she can take care of herself,” said Troy.
“I believe she can. Watch yourself.”
“I’m not going to try anything.”
“You’ll want to. I’m just sayin’ don’t do it.”
“Go away. As far as I’m concerned, she’s one of the guys.”
“Uh-huh.” Vegas’s voice dripped skepticism as he walked away.
Mila appeared in the doorway, her hair soaking wet, her bare shoulders covered in droplets, and a big towel covering her from chest to knees.
“What about Kassidy?” she asked.
Troy had to clear his throat.
“She’s okay, right?” asked Mila.
“She’s taking a nap.”
Mila smiled, her sparkling eyes and the glimpse of her white teeth turning him on. “That’s our girl.”
He forced himself to concentrate. “I need an update.”
“On?”
“On everything. Your investigation. The current security plan. Her upcoming performances. Anything you believe might be relevant.”
“No problem.” Mila crossed to a bench that held her wet clothes.
“How did those get out here?” He was trying to picture the logistics of her in the shower and Vegas in the doorway, and who knew who else coming and going.
“Vegas,” she said.
“He saw you naked?”
“What if he did?”
Troy was advancing on her before he had time to think it through. “Tell me he didn’t.”
She met his hard gaze. “He didn’t. He reached his hand around the doorway and I gave him my clothes.”
“Are you sure he didn’t peek?” Troy couldn’t help but think, for himself, it would have taken ethics of steel to keep his eyes averted.
“Is this junior high? Of course he didn’t peek. And the world wouldn’t have come tumbling down if he had.”
“Is that a yes or a no?”
“That’s a mind your own business, Troy Keiser.”
The color was high in her cheeks, and he was suddenly, blindingly reminded that she was naked under the towel.
Vegas had been right. Troy wanted to try something. He desperately and absolutely wanted to try something.
He curled his hands into fists and forced himself to take a step back.
“Get dressed,” he managed through the roaring in his ears. “Meet me upstairs.”
Eight
Mila had been smarter this time. She’d packed a change of clothes and another pair of boots in a duffel bag, knowing what she’d look like at the end of the obstacle course.
She stepped into her jeans and tugged a rust-colored T-shirt over her head. Her leather ankle boots were scuffed and worn, but they fit her like a glove and were both sturdy and comfortable. They gave her confidence.
She tied her wet clothes into a plastic bag and stuffed them into the duffel. Her hair was still wet, but she’d combed it out. She slung the bulky black bag over her shoulder, jazzed at the prospect of seeing Troy, even knowing her buzz of arousal was a seriously dangerous state.
She exited through the open doorway, finding Vegas standing guard.
“I hope that wasn’t too inconvenient,” she said as they walked side by side down the hall.
“I didn’t mind,” he answered.
He looked as though he didn’t. And it helped. Vegas seemed both immensely capable and down-to-earth.
